Clips

Some “Gun Guys” get a burr up their asses when someone who knows little about guns, says “Clip” instead of “Magazine”. Some gun guys turn into pedantic asshats about this and regardless of the situation just can’t help but to go into full lecture mode to make sure that they beat the “proper terminology” into their heads. And it wouldn’t be so bad if you just said something like “If it has a spring, it’s a magazine,” and move on… But interjecting your “Knowledge Bomb” with the whole looking down your nose, half sneer, and eye rolls only makes you look like a complete jackwagon.

Instead of rolling easy, you guys have to puff out your chest like a Male Sage Grouse trying to impress a Mate. Then once you’ve beaten your point into the ground like your driving railroad spikes, you then act smug as if you’ve fixed some part of the world that was broken and now can be healed thanks to your blessed wisdom dispensation.

Some times I’ve observed the results of this… and it’s not good. You’ve taken a new and curious shooter that wants to learn… and turned them off completely. I’ve seen this happen at Ranges. I’ve seen this happen at Gun Counters. I’ve seen Customers do this to other Customers… and I’ve even seen Gun Counter Guys do this to someone who was a Customer, but suddenly are no longer one. And then they don’t want to go back. Because people don’t like being talked down to. This does us no good and seriously – Who the hell really cares? This isn’t important.

Clips vs Magazines – It doesn’t matter. Both are devices that hold ammunition… That’s close enough. It’s not “Shoulder Thing that Goes Up” level of ignorance… So let’s let this shit slide and then offer some educational training in a more subtle way, okay?

8 thoughts on “Clips”

I agree, it’s just a pendant’s way of asserting dominance and never an effective communication tactic.

But I seem to recall the past advice was “so anytime you hear anyone say that… Correct them. There is no such thing for one, for the other – it’s a magazine not a clip.” So what gives? An Ogre mellowing in his old age?

My Dad spent four years in the Pacific and was a competitive shooter in the early 50’s. His best friend was in Patton’s army relieving Bastogne and fought across Germany. He also was a competitive shooter and first taught me shooting on an M1. They and other friends formed the first gun club in the area. All of them referred to magazines and clips interchangeably. I would not have corrected them for the world, if I had known better, which I didn’t, athough I knew the difference between the device’s uses. I still call magazines clips, and I still hold up a M1 as beautiful rifle. People who knew weapons well and saved their lives with them repeatedly referred to magazines as clips. So maybe it is not anything to obsess over.